Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Indians are winning, the offense looks better with the roster (gasp) finally being managed to optimize the lineup and CP Lee looks like Cy Phifer Lee again. With all of those good things happening and with roster moves happening en masse (again), let’s get right to the Tomahawks:__________

Ideally, the arms that you want to come out of the bullpen are ones that don’t walk too many people, but also who have the ability to induce swings and misses and notch some strikeouts…not too crazy of a concept, right?Well, here are the pitchers with the highest K/BB rates in the system, regardless of level:Kelvin De La Cruz – 9.50 K/BB Paolo Espino – 6.00 K/BB Hector Rondon – 4.67 K/BB Josh Judy – 4.67 K/BBAnillins Martinez – 4.67 K/BBZach Putnam – 4.50 K/BB Recognize some of those names as guys that recently made the switch to the bullpen?

As for the names that you may not recognize from recent weeks, KDLC has been shut down for six weeks after blazing to a phenomenal start in Kinston, and Espino is currently bouncing around Lake County, Kinston, and Akron to fill in holes in the rotation and bullpen and is not nearly the prospect that the others are, as Tony Lastoria tells me.

But past those two is where you get into some names and may really help with Rondon and Putnam now together in the Akron bullpen after each started the season in the rotations in Kinston and Akron, respectively. Josh Judy has recently been promoted from the Kinston to the Akron bullpen and Anillins Martinez is really finding his first success in the Lake County bullpen, which means that the 9 2/3 innings he’s thrown may or may not be an indication that he should be fast-tracked.

So, of the pitchers in the organization with the highest K/BB rates, two have now been put into the bullpen with the idea that they may be able to help the scuffling bullpen.

Obviously, that needs to be taken with a bit of a grain of salt as neither Rondon nor Putnam has those video-game numbers (even in MiLB), but it points out what criteria the Indians are looking at in terms of transitioning young arms to the bullpen.__________

The downside of the Rondon move is not that different, though, from the move of Aaron Laffey to the bullpen as, while it may strengthen the bullpen, it unquestionably hurts the rotation. Think for a moment how the starters’ depth chart looked when the season started:LeeCarmonaPavanoReyesLewisLaffeySowersHuffJackson

That’s nine names and, as hard as it may be to believe, the thought that they’re going to have to go deeper than that when we’re in mid-May is valid as Reyes and Sowers have shown that they’re not worthy of getting the ball every 5th day, SLewis is hurt (again), Laffey has been called out of this mix to save the bullpen and Huff is still probably a couple of weeks away from making his way up to the parent club.

So, past those nine, you would have probably put Rondon and Westbrook as the other two legitimate starting options for this year…that is, until Rondon made the move to the bullpen. Thus, what we’re looking at with Sowers going back down and Reyes struggling to the point that he probably shouldn’t be in the rotation is that the Indians have to hope that Huff can step into the rotation at some point (assuming Laffey stays in the bullpen…which shouldn’t be a foregone conclusion) and that Westbrook returns healthy and ready to contribute.

At this point, that may be asking for a little too much to go right in that rotation…particularly in the back end. __________

Speaking of that back end of the rotation, is anyone holding out hope that Jeremy Sowers is going to ever find success as a MLB starter?

Since his 2006 season, Sowers has gone 5-17 with a 6.16 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP over 197 1/3 innings and things actually seem to be getting worse for him as he’s on his way back to AAA with the Indians’ 5th starting spot seemingly up for grabs.

What’s so frustrating about watching Sowers go one night, then watching Lee go the next is that to watch the radar gun, the two aren’t separated by too much in terms of MPH, with both sitting between 89 and 91 with their fastballs in their last start…but, as we’ve learned from watching CP Lee turn into Cy Lee, it’s all about location.

Yuck.Is Sowers salvageable at this point?That’s hard to see and knowing that he’s out of options after this year and probably pitched his way out a legitimate opportunity to start a game for the Indians with his last two games, who knows what the future holds for Sowers…but his window of opportunity to be a legitimate starting option in Cleveland is closing quickly.__________

Knowing that Sowers is out of options out of this year, who else is?AubreyBarfieldCarmonaFranciscoZachsonPerez

What players are out of options after 2010?GarkoLaffeyJen LewisSLewisMeloanMillerSipp

Not sure if you find that interesting or not as the haves versus the have-nots in terms of who’s out of options after this year doesn’t make it that hard to see which players are on their last legs as Indians.__________

With the win in Tampa, the Indians are 13-15 since their 1-7 start with what can charitably be called an unsettled bullpen and a still-evolving offense and now find themselves merely five games out.Thank goodness for the AL Central…

Posted by
Paul Cousineau

3 comments:

I hope that they can find a couple of decent arms in front of Wood so they can shift Laffey back to the rotation because a rotation of Lee, Carmona, Westbrook, Pavano and Laffey looks pretty good. I hope that Jensen's 5K performance against the Sox means he's coming around. On July 1st I think the pen will be like this: Wood, J. Lewis, Perez (hopefully), Betancourt, Rondon, J. Smith and Vizcaino/Sipp.